I just acquired a 1963 E-type and I noticed that it's very loud in 1st gear. I know there is whine, but this is a bit more than I expected. It is cold here, around freezing. The first time, the car did warm up too much. The second time, I let it warm for about 10 minutes. Is this normal? Gearbox feels really good otherwise, shifting is pretty easy. Downshifting is easy as well.

 

The gearbox on your '63 will be the earlier Moss gearbox, so has no synchro on 1st-2nd changes. I think 1st gear is probably straight cut gears, but I'm not an expert. When you say whine was more than you expected, are you familiar with Jaguar gearboxes so know what level of whine to expect ? The Moss gearbox was a very old design and was used by Jaguar for far too long, really. 1964 saw the all-sunchro gearbox that I had on my Mark 2, but its so long ago, (late 80s), I can't remember whether it whined or not.

 

I guess I'm just comparing what I hear on YouTube videos. I can hear the whine in them, and mine seems 4x louder.

 

The Moss gearbox does have a distinct 'whine' in first gear, which is normal for straight-cut gears. If the gearbox is being overhauled, it's not unusual to check the gears for burring on the edges that can also cause that type noise.